Human progress

THE halfway mark of the 20th century is still ahead, yet so far there have been two major wars and a third is entirely possible. The human traits responsible for the wars and for the ensuing turmoil are evil enough, but some of the behavior, such as the killing and torturing of the helpless, is on the animal level. Although such traits and behavior were characteristic of large groups in enemy countries they were not restricted to them, so it might be concluded that human progress is stalled if it is not actually in reverse. Before accepting such a pessimistic view it might be well to look back into the past.